Japanese Gangster Held For In-flight Jet Bombing

TOKYO -- Police Saturday arrested a Japanese gangster who allegedly smuggled a hand grenade onto a Thai International jetliner that exploded and caused the plane to dive nearly 5 miles.

Authorities said they arrested Seiki Nakagawa, 43, after his discharge from an Osaka hospital where he was treated for burns suffered in the blast on Oct. 26 aboard the plane.

Nakagawa admitted that he accidentally pulled the pin of a grenade while trying to hide it in a rear toilet on board the Airbus A-300. The jetliner was on a flight from Bangkok, Thailand, to Osaka, Japan, via the Philippines.

The gangster told police he panicked and threw grenade into the bathroom`s waste bin.

The explosion caused the aircraft to nosedive 25,000 feet, injuring 62 of the 247 people aboard. The pilot managed to regain control of the plane and landed it in Osaka.

Nakagawa is a member of the Suzuhide-gumi, a splinter group of Japan`s largest underworld organization, Yamaguchi-gumi.

Police said they suspect that Nakagawa was smuggling the grenade into Japan from the Philippines as a sample preceding an illegal arms shipment.